#yourmeiinapril – flowers and rain

Konnichasssuu!

Pretty much close to the end of the Nagoya travel series and I’m pretty much looking forward to some more new stuff this coming month for you lot! I can’t wait. I’ved been starting to optimize the site and I am lamenting on changing the layout of the site since this current one is a bit old now so we need a redo. Right now, I am still picking which layout to get, but the next one will definitely have a mobile layout.

Anyway! For today’s travel series in Nagoya, I’ll be showing you the places I’ved been for my 5th day. Since most of my friends are no longer in Nagoya, I mostly roamed on my own. Fortunately, my Spotify was with me so I was mostly on a music-filled tour. Google Maps was also my buddy… although it kept pointing me at the wrong direction.

Check the captions after each pic!

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After breakfast, pretty much found myself in the subway to go to Atsuta Jingu. Though I must admit I got into the wrong train on my way there because I didn’t notice it was going straight to Nagoya Port. To get to Atsuta Jingu, you have to get the train that goes on a loop around Meijo Line since the trains going to Nagoya Port doesn’t pass by the station for Atsuta. You can double check the schedules using the electronic bulletins in the station or the following apps: Google Maps, Jorudan or Hyperdia.

Eventually found myself in the right station and closer to Atsuta! Saw some pretty flowers in the center aisle! Hahaha!

The walk from the station to Atsuta Jingu (and back) is a bit far since the entrance is in the middle half of the shrine.

When you get into Atsuta, it’s similar to the feeling when you go visit Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. You step into a world that is detached from the modern world. Trees are everywhere the pathways are filled with stones and cobbled areas. You could barely hear the cars passing around it.

You would also get to see this, the stash of sake that was offered to the shrine by some of the makers based in the area or those with branches in Nagoya.

Here’s a display of the history of this place and some other data about Atsuta.

Atsuta is quite big. Here’s another part of the shrine which I saw first. I didn’t go in this place though. A bit dark coz it looked like it was going to rain (And it did)

Here are the omamoris you can buy at Atsuta. I didn’t buy one coz they didn’t have an English translation. I also still have my omamori from Meiji which will work till August. They say you can’t really use a lot of Omamoris in one go since it may cancel out the others you got.

Like in any other shrine in Japan, Atsuta also has its wall of emas or prayer tablets surrounding a holy tree. Its 300 yen each for the star emas. You can buy the other sizes too though Im uncertain how much they are.

These emas are collected every day and prayed at by the priests of the shrine before they are burnt to send to the gods.

Made a prayer for another successful Japan trip and so on!

Here’s Atsuta Jingu main. You can’t take a picture of the actual Shrine which goes beyond that barrier. They say it is the home to one of the Imperial Treasures of Japan.

See how different this place is from the outside world?

Before I go to my next destination, and as it was lunch, I decided to hunt the Kishimen restaurant in Atsuta. Kishimen is one of the noodle dishes in Nagoya and the one in Atsuta is a tourist-must try! One Miya Kishimen is 650 yen and the others have various toppings. You can also get extra add-ons like tempura, extra pork flakes and such.

Miya Kishimen at Atsuta Jingu. The noodles were a bit new to me since I haven’t tried it yet, but the soup was very rich in flavor. You even get tofu, a huge serving of pork flakes, mushroom, naruto (Which has the symbol of the shop) and some lettuce.

If you can’t go to Atsuta, they do have other branches across Nagoya. Atsuta is their main branch.

Although it was raining, I made it a point to stop by this place: Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The reason for my visit was not just to find this cafe in its Sky Tower (Which I failed to catch due to the time I reached the Tower), but also to hunt for late-blooming sakura.

My ticket to the park. I gotten a combo ticket, which would let me check out the Zoo, Gardens and the Sky Tower. It is 640 yen.

If you don’t want to visit the Sky Tower, there is a cheaper entrance fee.

Higashiyama is open until 5 pm, but you can visit the Sky Tower separately which closes at 10 pm.

Hippooo!

Baby Prongs!!!

This is the only lion I saw but he was making a racket when I left after this picture.

This zebra kept posing. Obliged

I forgot which specie of bear this is, but when I was taking this shot, it kept moving to and fro from its place.

Also found myself a polar bear. Though this guy likely might have declined going out since the rain kept going off and on.

Also saw some Koalas at this place. Unfortunately I am not sharing photos of it since the Koalas were firmly hiding their faces. I want one to bring home but sigh, I need a tree for them.

That in the right is the Higashiyama Sky Tower. The pond here is actually full each summer so people can go boating and so.

Some flowers I saw on bloom while trying to locate the Hanami grounds which was on the other side of the Gardens and the Zoo.

In these photos are photos of Rhododendron, shrubs that can grow so large and bloom flowers. The white one you see in the second picture is called the Wedding Bouquet coz of its blooms. Apparently, that part of the park is the Rhododendron Forest. I did take some pics of others, but this white one is perfect.

After passing by the Rhododendron Forest, I ended up finding the hill where the Hanami viewing park is located. I was so exhausted when I got to the hill and cursed when I saw stairs up to it. No shortcuts. This shrub was on the top entrance of the viewing area.

Ah, all my agony in climbing and looking for this place paid off. This is an example of one of the area’s late blooming Sakura trees and they were at their full bloom too. It was beautiful and pink. I couldn’t take some home coz it wasn’t the Sakura that grows in the first week of April. I also didn’t want to get scolded.

Once you get past the Sakura area, you get to see this! More flowers and a big fountain! Interestingly no one was around save two Japanese ladies who asked if I could take their picture.

This will greet you in the lobby of Sky Tower. And annoyingly, the restaurant I was after was beside it but it was closed.

Some of the views from Higashiyama Sky Tower! Sadly it was raining so you can’t see the mountain ranges.

There’s also a special couples’ area here like in Nagoya TV Tower.

After getting out of Higashiyama Sky Tower, I found some more animals!

Since it was my technical last night in Nagoya, I went shopping for some more souvenirs. One of my stops was back here to see if I should purchase more Dragons merch. I ended up buying just a washi tape and ended up considering to watch a game. BUT I didn’t since my luggage was still pretty screwed over. Hahaha. It was nice seeing it before I leave for Manila the next day.

I also went around Yabacho to check out PARCO to find this bathbomb since I wanted to take a nice relaxing dip in the bathtub after my walks around Higashiyama (it was nice yet tiring walk). They call this bathbomb Twilight and they say after soaking on this bomb, you will get a nice and refreshing sleep… which I actually did after fixing my luggage. It’s 750 yen! It’s also sold in Manila, as well as its spray and lotion variant. BUT, when I was trying to buy the lotion in Manila, it was sold out. Tsk.

What is in this nice bento I wonder?!?!

Yup! Its my dinner! Gyudon from Yoshinoya! It’s actually quite cheap this one and delicious too. I kinda want to go to Yoshinoya again.

Last photo for the night is this cool and limited steel bottle of Coke, featuring Nagoya Castle. I took the empty bottle at home and now its on my rack of stuff. They have a different design in other cities so try collecting them!!

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The next post will be the last of the #yourmeiinapril post in Nagoya! More photos there!!!